...How old are you, Cat? 'Cause I reckon you can't be much more'n thirteen.

[ and sharpe had been looking after himself well before that age. but he leaves his reasoning vague: ] I've known lads and lasses as young as that who needed very little looking after.

[ though -- he reflects -- they (and he) might have benefited from it all the same. now that he is himself a father and a grown man, he feels a pang for the young ones left alone. he'd felt it while visiting the orphanage in copenhagan, too. ]